Distillation



w. GENSECKE July 29, 1930.

DISTI LLATION Filed June 16. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l W. GENSECKE Jul29,1930.

DISTILLATION Filed June 16, 1925 2 Sheets-5 1881; 2

I A attoz "my Patented July 29, 1930 I 1,771,561

UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE Application filed June 16, 1925, Serial No.37,520, and in Germany June 20,1924.

The present invention relates to distil'lasteam supply pipe h. The upperportion of tion operations and apparatus therefor in the pipe 9 issurrounded by a cylinder 03 which which steam is used as distillingmedium, as extends through the top of the chamber a for instance fortreating fatty acids or for and terminates a short distance above the 5deodorizing oils. level 6. Slightly below the top of the cham- 65Operations of the type referred to are comher a the cylinder d hasapertures l which monly carried out by passing steam, preferestablishcommunication between the interior ably in the form of a spray, into thebody of the cylinder and the vapor space surroundof the liquid to betreated, at the bottom of ing the same. Below the openings Z there isthe container, causing the steam to rise as preferably provided in thecylinder 03 in any 60 bubbles to the surface of the liquid. It is asuitable manner a transverse plate 3' and bematter of experience thatdistillation takes low the latter are provided on the inner'wall placegenerally only at the surface of the of the cylinder d and on the pipe 9baflles 6 liquid, i. e., the locus of the lowest pressure and frespectively. Above the. openings Z upon the liquid. The steam, asidefrom the there are referably provided baflies min the fact that it hasto travel-through the whole cylinder I The liquid may be introduced bodyof the liquid, is effective only at or near into and withdrawn from thechamber a the surface. through the valve controlled pipe 9 at the 1 Itis the general object of this invention to bottom of the vessel.

provide a mode of operation of distillation in The operation is asfollows: 70 which the distilling action of the steam is Steam enteringthrough the pipe it mixes materially increased. with the liquid tobetreated, in the vessel 2' A more particular object of the inventionand in accordance with the principle of is a'mode of operation in whichthe liquid pneumatic lifts the mixture rises-in the pipe to be treatedis brought into such intimate g and flows down over the baffles e, fwhere 75 contact relation and under such conditions distillation takesplace under the most favorthat the rate of distillation is materiallyinable conditions. The steam together with creased. the distillate thenpasses upwardly through For a full understanding of the invention thevapor space surrounding the cylinder at and the principle of operationupon which it and through the openings 1 out through the 80 is based,reference is made to the accompanyupper end of the cylinder to acondenser (not ing drawings, in which shown).

Fig. 1 is a more or less diagrammatic rep- Thus liquid is continuouslysubjected to resentation of an apparatus for carrying out the distillingaction of the steam under contheobject of the invention, I ditions mostfavorable to distillation. The

Fig. 2. is a modification thereof; steam is first intimately mixed withtheliquid Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing and then the mixture issubdivided by the another. modification thereof; and contact devicesrepresented by bafiles e and f 1 Fig. 4.is a more or less diagrammaticrepinto films and streamlets promoting distilla- 40 resentation on anenlarged scale of the lower tion in accordance with principles wellknown portion of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1, in connection withproblems of evaporation 1 In Fig. 1, a represents a distilling chamandabsorption. her in which the-liquid is shown as having the Theconsumption of energy for effecting the level I). In the bottom portionof the chamlifting action is insignificant and in practice her aisprovided .the usual heating coil '0. negligible. Due to the fact thatsteam has A pipe 9, preferably centrally disposed in the a very highspecific volume, especially when chambera, extends from near the top ofthe the operation isconducted in a high vacuum, chamber to near thebottom thereof ierminatsmall amounts of steam may lift large ingatits-bottom t, in a vessel 2' which is open amounts of liquid. 0 atitsbottom and to which-is connected a To fully understand the materialpoints of the invention, it should be noted that attempts haveheretofore been made to improve the distilling operation by lifting theliquid and allowing it to flow down through a column. However, suchoperation involved the use of mechanical pumps and a continuwithoutdoing useful work.

A very material feature also is the liquidgaseous contact relationeffected by the in vention. The steam and the liquid are caused to flowin the same direction in contact with each other both upwardly in thepipe 9 and downwardly over the bafile system. This continued intimatecontact is particularly effective for the purposes of distillation.

E wampZa-Deodorization of vegetable oil. The content of the distillingapparatus a is 5,000 kg. The body of oil is heated by the coil 0 to 160C. The vacuum in the apparatus amounts to 10 mm'. mercury absolute. Thequantity of steam supplied by the vesselz' (Fig. 1) is kg.; the steamenters at an absolute pressure which corresponds to the vacuum in theapparatus together with the liquid column, up to the inlet in the pipeg. The steam is thus under vacuum at the inlet point. Its temperaturemay amount to 160 (1, superheated steam thus being involved. The mixtureof oil and steam in the vessel z is raised in the pipe 9 and flows overthe baflies e and f where continued intimate contact of the releasedsteam and oil takes place under the most favorable conditions. Thereleased steam, together with the distilled components of the oil, thenpasses upwards through the vapor space surrounding the cylinder d andthrough the openings Z out through the upper end of the cylinder pastthe baflles m to the condenser.

Practical experiment has demonstrated that under these operativeconditions the apparatus can treat hourly about 75,000 kg. of oil. Thatis, the content of the still is supplied 15 times hourly.v Whether thetemperature of the steam is hi her or lower than that of the oil treatedis of no consequence, steam is superheated in each case and on risin inthe pi e takes the temperature of the 011. With t e maximum quantity ofoil and the minimum quantity of steam the temrature of the oil is notappreciably inuenced on change of the temperature of the To morecompletely utilize the steam, the distilling steam may be repeatedlyused in a as the V denser, but is conducted into a second apparatus n.The arrangement of parts of a paratus n is essentially the same as that0 apparatus a. Through steam pipe ;0 only, so much steam is introducedas is necessary to lift the liquid in pipe 9. The additional steam foradequately carrying out the distillation is the steam and distillatecoming from the apparatus a through conduit 1* down through the cylinder0. Also in this case the steam flows with the liquid treated in the.same direction. The mixture of steam and distillate passes out throughoutlet 8. In the bottom part of the yessel a is disposed a heating coil0.

Toobtain in the chamber a as high a vacuum as desired, it may benecessary to use a steam injector a; in the conduit 1'.

While in apparatus of the single chamber type it v is preferable tointroduce all the steam'through the steam supply pipe connected with thelift pipe, the operation may be carried out in other ways. Thus as shownin Fig. 3, the cylinder of the chamber a is composed of two sections (1and a, containing baflies e and f respectively. Intermediate the twosections the cylinder is provided with openings 1 which are in directcommu-- nication with the outlet to. Part of the, steam may thus be usedto lift the liquid throughpipe gand eflect distillation in the uppersection a of the cylinder while steam may also be passed at a pointvupwardly into the lower section a of the cylinder in countercurrentrelation with the, liquid descendingthrough it. The introduction ofsteam into the lower section a of the cylinder may be effected byadmitting supplemental steamover the surface of the said body of oilthrough the port w. The steam so admitted finds outlet at the point '0and ascends through the lower section a of the cylinder incountercurrent relation to the downwardly flowin oil. The steamdescending in section a an the steam ascending in section a and thedistillates carried thereby pass out through openings 1 and the outletu.

In the foregoing I have illustrated several forms of apparatusarticularl suitable for carrying out the o 'ects of t e invention.However, it should e understood that the forms shown are merely generalrepresentative examples of apparatus. by means of which the inventionmay be advantageously carried into execution.

The cylinder together with the baflies merely typify liquid-gaseouscontact devices in general. It is understood that there is considerablelatitude in respect to this feature.

The essential point is the lifting of the liquid to be treated bymeansof the steam and the action of the steam upon the liquid in a state'of intimate surface contact.

I claim:

1. In the process for the. elimination of odorous substances from liquidvegetable or animal oils, fats and the like by steam distillation, thesteps which consist in continuously causing steam to pneumatically liftliquid oil from a body thereof to be treated and above the level ofsurrounding liquid,

' bringing the steam and the oil so lifted into intimate surface contactrelation, and removing the steam and the gaseous products of thetreatment. J

2. In the process for the elimination of odorous substances from liquidvegetable or animal oils, fats and the like by steam distillation, thesteps which consist in continuously causing steam to pneumatically liftliquid oil from a body thereof to be treated and above the level ofsurrounding liquid, bringing the steam and the oil so lifted intointimate surface contact relation, removing the steam-and the gaseousproductsof the Y treatment, and allowing the so treated oil to return tothe body thereof.

3. In the process for the elimination of odorous substances from li uidvegetable or animal oils, fats and the li e by steam distillation, thesteps which consist in continuously causing steam to pneumatically liftliquid oil from a body thereof to be treated and above the level ofsurrounding liquid, bringing the steam and the oil so lifted intointimate surface contact relation, withdrawing the steam and gaseousproducts of the treatment from contact with the oil, causing the oil tofurther descend counter-currently through a second stream of steam inintimate surface contact relation, withdrawing the steam and gaseousproducts of the treatment from contact with the oil,'and allowin the sotreated oil to return to the said ody thereof. i

4. In distillation of liquid by means of steam under conditions ofsub-atmospheric pressure, the mode of operation which consists in causinsteam to continuously, lift liquid from a ody of liquid to be treatedand above the level of surrounding liquid,

bringing the so-lifted liquid and steam into intimate surface contactrelation and removing the steam and gaseous products of the interaction.

5. In distillation ofliquid by meansof steam under conditions 'ofsub-atmospheric pressure, the mode of operation which consists incausing steam to continuously lift liquid from a body of liquid to betreated and above the level of the surrounding liquid, bringing theliquid lifted and steam into the liquid oil from a body thereof to betreated and above the level of surrounding liquid, bringing steam andthe. oil so lifted into intimate surface contact relation, and removingthe steam and the gaseous products of the treatment. 1

7. In the process for the elimination of odorous substance from liquidvegetable or animal oils, fats and the like by steam distillation underconditions of sub-atmospheric pressure, the steps which consist incontinuously causing steam to pneumatically lift liquid oil from a bodythereof to be treated above the level of surrounding liquid, bringingsteam and the oil so lifted into intimate surface contact relation,removing the steam and the gaseous products of the treatment, andallowing the remaining oil to return to the body thereof. i

8. In the process for the elimination of .odorous substances from liquidvegetable or animal oils, fats and. the like by steam distillation underconditions of sub-atmospheric pressure, the steps which consist incontinuously causing steam to pneumatically lift liquid oil from a bodythereof to be treated and above the level of the surrounding liquid,bringing the steam and the oil so lifted into. intimate surface contactrelation, withdrawing the steam and gaseous products of the treatmentfrom contact with the oil, causing the oil to further descendcountercurrently through a second stream of steam in intimate surfacecontact relation, withdrawing the steam and gaseous products of thetreatment from contact with the oil, and allowing the so treated oil toreturn to the said body thereof.

9. In distillation of liquid by means of steam, the mode of operationwhich consists in causing steam to continuously lift a portion of theliquid from the body of liquid to be treated and above the level ofsurrounding liquid, bringing the so lifted liquid and steam intointimate surface contact relation and removing the steam and the gaseousproducts of the interaction.

10. In distillation of liquid by means of steam, the 'mode of operationwhich consists in causing steam to continuously lift a portion of theliquid from the body of liquid to be treated and abovethe' leve'l ofsurrounding liquid, bringing the so lifted liquid and steam intointimate surface contact relation,- allowing the remaining liquid toreturnto the body of liquid and removing the steam and the gaseousproducts of the interaction.

Intestimony whereof, I afiix m signature.

" WILHELM GE SECIGJ.

